Lady&#39;s undergarment



Aug. 26, 1941. P; z GORDON 2,253,902

LADYS UNDERGARMEN'I Fil ed April 12. 1941 Elma/Mom Patented Aug. 26,1941 UNITED STATES PATIENT OFFICE 2,253,902 LADYS UNDERGARMENT PaulineZ. Gordon, New York, N. Y.

Application April 12, 194-1, Serial No. 388,316

3 Claims.

This invention relates to garments and moreparticularly to what is knownin the trade as a bra-slip, that is, a combination of brassiere and slipas one garment. The garment is particularly suitable to people whoprefer to have a lower garment.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a comfortable,upper form-fitting garment of the above character provided with certainelastic features whereby it may be easily put on and taken off withoutseparable fasteners of any sort.

A further object of the invention is to provide a garment of the abovecharacter, in which the pull on the elastic portions is placed in properrelation to the portions of the body where the pull is most desired.

A further object is to provide a garment of the above character whichwill tend to smooth out any bulges or creases in the body by pullingacross such portions at the desired angle.

A further object is to provide a garment of the above character havingrelatively few parts which may be easily assembled and inexpensivelymanufactured.

Other objects will be in part obvious from the annexed drawing and inpart hereinafter indicated in connection therewith by the followinganalysis ,of this invention.

This invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combination of parts, unique relation of members, and the relativeproportioning and disposition thereof, all as more completely outlinedherein.

To enable others skilled in the art fully to comprehend the underlyingfeatures of this invention, that they may embody the same by thenumerous modifications in structure and relation contemplated by theinvention, drawing depicting one embodiment of the invention form a partof this disclosure, and in such drawing like characters of referencedenote corresponding parts throughout the several views, in which Fig. 1is a fragmentary front elevation of such parts of the complete garmentas is necessary to understand the invention.

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the rear of the same;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing one side of the garment.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, it will be seen that the garmentcomprises an upper body portion and a lower skirt portion. The

lower portion is of conventional skirt or slip formation, while theupper part constitutes the brassire and body embracing portion. Thefront of the skirt, indicated at 5, is provided with a waist-line 6above which, for the most'part, are a plurality of substantiallytriangular 'gores and segments made of elastic and non-elastic mate-'rial substantially alternately arranged. For instance, the front isprovided with a relatively 10 large, wide, substantially triangularportion 1 extending across or over the diaphragm with one of the sidesjust below the breasts of the wearer. Above this front panel 'l'areprovided two breast cups 8 which may be of conventional construction,that is, formed in one part by means of darts whereby the upper part ofeach is cupped, appears to be formed substantially of quarter-spheres'ofmaterial, while the lower half of each semi-sphere or cup is made in asimilar manner to give the appearance of two substancated at I2, ispreferably of elastic material, of

any manufacture provided it has about 100% stretch. The materialgenerally known in the trade as lastex," stretchable in one directiononly, that is, transversely across the body, is found satisfactory. Thelower part of this insert I! may extend slightly downwardly into thetriangular panel I as indicated at l3. This provides a certain amount ofstretch immediately beneath the breasts and at the upper part of thediaphragm, thereby to permit easier breathing without the feeling ofrestriction.

Immediately below the inwardly and downwardly tapering sides of thepanel I are two 40 right-triangular portions H, also'made of elasticmaterial, adapted to stretch only in a horizontal direction, asindicated. The vertical sides of these triangular portions form a linecontinuous with the side seams l5 of the garment and also the sides ofthe segments Ill of the breast cups or substantially tangential with theouter edges of the two hemispheres assuming them to be circular inoutline instead of slightly distorted as shown.

The rear lower part of the garment, as shown in Fig. 2, is formed by therear skirt panel indicated at It extending from the waist-line 8downwardly to the desired length above which are two separate,substantially triangular portions I'I separated by a relatively wide,substantially triangular or wedge shaped portion ll, the latter beingmade of the same elastic material as the parts l2 and I4, andstretchable in one direction only, namely,,transversely to the body.

It will be noted that the lower part of this gore I8 extends slightlybelow the waist-line as indicated at 20, Fig. 2, thus permitting thedesired expansion at the waist-line which is also particularly helpfulin putting the garment on or off.

Interposed between the parts I! of non-stretch material and thetriangular inserts M are two relatively large, triangular gores 2|, asindicated more clearly in Fig. 3. These gores are also made of elasticmaterial and are adapted to stretch in one direction only. It is to benoted particularly, however, that these gores are cuton the bias andtheir line of stretch is at an angle to the line of stretch in theadjacent gores It as clearly indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. By experienceit has been found that an angle of approximately 35 provides the mostsatisfactory results in that the pull exerted by this elastic materialis in the general direction from the upper part of the breast cups tothe middle of the back, as well as on lines parallel thereto to a pointbelow the waist-line. By having these gores of triangular shape thegreatest stretch is provided at the upper part of the body where themost stretch is desired, while the lower parts of I these triangleshaving a relatively small amount of stretch maintaining the garment inproper form fit over the hips where the lower parts of these goresterminate, as indicated at 22.

The garment is provided with the usual shoulder straps 23, preferablyconnected between the upper outer portions of the breast cups and the,tops of the triangular non-stretch gores I! at the back. By having themconnected with nonstretchable material the garment maintains a smootherand less wrinkled appearance when worn, and the line of pull isdiagonally across the side muscles or any creases that may exist.

It will thus be seen that the present invention provides a simple andpractical garment which serves the combined purpose of a brassiere andslip with the upper part flattening and molding into substantially flatlines the natural rolls of flesh. This advantage is principally byreason of the fact that the small gores H are cut triangularly at anangle with respect to the larger gores 2| adjacent thereto. This angleof about 35 as above stated is measured from the horizontal stretch ofthe piece [4 downwardly to the direction of stretch in piece 2|. Inother words, the selvage of the part 2| which is at the top should be atabout 55 with respect to the side seam I5, Fig, 1. The elastic sectionsin the back of the garment are of great aid in providing the necessarystretch in putting the garment over ones head, and also contributematerially to the form-fitting effect in helping to prevent the bulgingof material and the shifting of its position on the body, irrespectiveof the activity of the wearer. The gores 2| having a line of stretch ona bias with respect to the adjacent gores is of material importance inactually flattening any flesh bulges or creases at the sides of thebody, thereby producing the desirable permanent, fiat, smooth side line.The skirt may be form-fitting, or not, as desired.

The construction comprises relatively few parts, each of which coactswith adjacent parts to produce the desired results and effect andaccomplish among others all of the objects and advantages above setforth.

Without further analysis the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthis invention that, others can, by applying current knowledge, readilyadapt it for various applications without omitting certain featuresthat, from the standpoint of the prior art, fairly constitute essentialcharacteristics of the generic or specific aspects of the invention, andtherefore such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehendedwithin the meaning and range of equivalency of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A braslip comprising a brassire section and a body covering portionbelow the waistline, said brassiere portion including breast cups and acentrally disposed panel therebeneath including a triangular part ateach side of said front panel of elastic material stretchable in asubstantially horizontal direction and extending from the bottom of thebreast cups to a line sub- I stantially at the waist line, a backsection and triangular gores of elastic material between said backsection and the triangular parts in the front panel and extendingfromthe top to a point near the waist line, the direction of stretch ofsaid side gores being downwardly and rearwardly at an acute angle withrespect to the direction of stretch of said triangular front parts.

2. A bra-slip comprising a brassiere section above the waist line and agarment portion below the waist line, said brassiere portion includingbreast cups and a panel therebeneath including a gore at each side ofelastic material stretchable in a direction substantially parallel tothe waist line and extending substantially between the waist line andthe bottom of the breast cups, a back section including a center panelof elastic material, a gore of non-elastic material at each side of saidback panel terminating near the waist line, and intermediate gores ofelastic material between said last-mentioned gores and the gores in thefront section extending from the top to below the waist line, thedirection of stretch of said intermediate gores being downwardly andrearwardly at an acute angle with respect to the direction of stretch ofsaid front gores, and the tops of said intermediate gores and backsection slanting downwardly from the sides of the breast cups to themiddle of the back.

3. .A bra-slip comprising a brassire section above the waist line and askirt portion below the waist line, said brassiere portion includingbreast cups and a centrally disposed panel therebeneath tapering towardsthe waist line, a triangular gore at each side of said front paneladjacent said central panel and of elastic material stretchable in asubstantially horizontal direction, the base of said triangular goresbeing substantially on the waist line, a back section comprising acenter panel of elastic material stretchable in substantially ahorizontal direction only, a gore of non-elastic material at each sideof said back panel terminating substantially at the waist line, andtriangular gores of'elastic material between said last-mentionednon-elastic gores and the triangular gores in the front sectionextending from the top with the apex at a point below the waist line andwith the direction of stretch of said side gores being downwardlytowards the back and at an angle of approximately 35" with respect tothe horizontal line of stretch of said triangular front side gores.

PAULINE Z. GORDON.

